Published: Saturday, 4th July, 2009 12:00pm

Election rivals accused of hijacking prostitute protest

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RIVAL politicians who turned up at a night-time patrol set up to stop the alarming spread of prostitution in Chalvey have been slammed by residents for 'jumping on the bandwagon".

Slough MP Fiona Mactaggart and the Conservative candidate, borough councillor Diana Coad, came face-to-face as a night walk attended by around 80 men became sidetracked by polictical squabbling.

Both women were accused of trying to score political points off the back of an issue which is has been causing widespread distress in the community.

For the past week scores of men, aged from around 16 to 75, have been taking to the streets of Chalvey in an attempt to disrupt the legions of prostitutes and kerb-crawlers who have been infecting the community by using car parks, front gardens and even the grounds of the nearby council offices for their public romps.

In a recent street meeting, organised by police following years of complaints by angry residents, it was decided that members of the community would start nightly patrols running into the early hours of the morning and it was not long before Slough"s political heavyweights got wind of the scheme and clamoured to take part in a profile-boosting exercise.

The leader of the night walkers, who was born in Chalvey, said: 'The last thing I wanted was for this to turn into a political issue.

'Clearly these people are just jumping on the bandwagon, we are the people who have to live with it, we are the ones who have to put up with men trawling our streets.'

Ms Mactaggart, who has long championed the need to help support vulnerable women who are forced to work the streets, arrived in Ledgers Road, seen by many as the worst hit area, at around 11pm on Tuesday where she joined Cllr Coad who had been mingling with residents for about an hour before.

One young member of the protest group added: 'A few arguments broke out between some of the political people. It"s unbelievable, there is a real issue here and they wouldn"t even appear in a picture together.'